System and method to stop underwater oil well leaks

ABSTRACT

System for stopping underwater oil leaks, in which the leaking oil may be stopped by a magnetic material/electromagnet plate through which there is an opening connected to a hose or pressurized line through which a gas or liquid is forced. The magnetic material/electromagnet plate is adhered to a caisson, charged electrically if need be, and a gas or liquid, under pressure, is used to force expansion of the closed-end of the bladder/ballon to form a rigid inflated balloon/bladder that plugs the opening, thereby shutting off the leak until the caisson break can be repaired.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for and methods of stopping and sealing underwater oil well leaks, and more particularly, to the use of sealing apparatus essentially comprising the combination of electromagnet, a gasket and bladder/balloon.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Upon discovery of underwater oil well leaks, there is a compelling need to reduce the lag between the discovery of an underwater oil well leak and sealing of that leak. However, at present, this is a complex and labor intensive endeavor when attempting to seal the underwater oil well leaks.

Further, there is huge risk to the environment, wild life, marine life and shore if the underwater oil well leak is not curtailed to prevent extensive damage.

It is known to employ Inflatable bladders to seal ruptures in ships' hulls of tankers using magnets to secure a seal around the opening. In this operation, the bladder and magnets are separate from one another and it takes considerable time, manpower and other resources to install the seal. This is especially the case with larger ruptures (as a combination of methods, inclusive of the inflatable bladders are often utilized to collect oil from the tanker).

More particularly, the prior innovation to contain oil leaks in tankers is a plug and patch system intended to temporarily seal a rupture in a ship's hull.

However, in the case of underwater oil well leaks, an apparatus/system is needed that extends beyond a ship's hull to stop underwater oil well leaks that requires less resources and labor to implement.

In the case of uncontrolled oil spills underwater, conventional approaches have been to close the well if the blowout preventer fails to function, and these methods utilized a containment dome, connection of a riser insertion tube or injection of dense material into the blowout preventer followed by sealing the well with cement, and have at times been effective to counter the pressure at the well head to perform what is referred to as a top kill. In this method a dense material is pumped down the drill or through a secondary line which bypasses the blowout preventer. The resulting downward pressure can prevent upward movement of oil and gas, however, none of these have provided an effective solution to rapidly end the flow of crude oil into bodies of water. Therefore, when the wall of a sea transport vessel or a caisson is ruptured, there is a need to seal the wall to prevent the flow of crude oil into the environment.

Finally, it is known to stem the flow of escaping oil in a wall structure in which there is placed a ferromagnetic material along which the fluid flows comprising:

inserting magnetic materials in a flow path to prevent the flow of oil through the path, by:

attaching a first plurality of magnetic particles to the ferromagnetic material and to one another; and

attaching a second plurality of particles to particles in the first plurality to fill a portion of a bore region with magnetic particles to impede the oil flow.

SUMMARY

One object of the present advance is to provide apparatus to reduce the lag between the discovery of an underwater oil well leak and the sealing of the leak.

Another object of the present innovation is to provide a less complex and less labor intensive means of sealing underwater oil well leaks.

A further object of the present innovation is to reduce the risk to the environment, wild life, marine life and shore by more rapidly stopping underwater oil well leaks to curtail the extensive damage from the leaks.

These and the other advantages of the present innovation will become clearer by reference to the brief description of the drawings and the detail description hereafter provided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective, exploded view of the underwater seal apparatus comprising the electromagnet, gasket and bladder/balloon.

FIG. 2 is a cross-section view of the assembled underwater seal of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a cross-section depiction of the underwater seal apparatus extended from a ship prior to engagement or adhesion to a caisson damaged by eruption.

FIG. 4 is a cross section view of the underwater seal inflated/expanded within the caisson and with the bladder extended by gas/liquid under pressure to effect the seal.

FIG. 5 is another cross section view of the underwater seal in which the bladder is extended further due to the gas/liquid under pressure into the internal wall of the caisson.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to the drawings, where like reference numbers comprise like elements, there is shown in FIG. 1 a perspective fragmented/exploded view of the underwater seal of an electromagnet component 11, a water proof silicone rubber gasket/seal means component 12 that may be a synthetic based material such as polydimethyl siloxone (silicone), an acetoxy silicone sealant, polychloroprene, and an HDPE thermoplastic as examples and a rubber bladder/balloon component 13.

The rubber bladder/balloon means used may be a synthetic such as butadiene; however any synthetic rubber will suffice in the context of this innovation i.e. styrene-butadiene, neoprene, and natural and synthetic rubbers toughened by vulcanization. Exemplary rubber/bladder balloon means are:

Polyisoprene (natural rubber, isoprene rubber), styrenebutaiene copolymer (styrenebutadiene rubber), polybutadiene (butadiene rubber), acrylonitrile butadiene copolymer (nitrile rubber), isobutyleneisoprene (butyl rubber), ethylenepropylene monomer (EPM), ethylenepropylene-diene monomer (EPDM), polychloroprene (neoprene), polysulfide (Thiokol), polydimethyl siloxane (silicone), fluoroelastomer, polyacrylate elastomer, polyethylene (chlorinated, chlorosulfonated), styrene-isoprenestyrene (SIS), styrene-butadiene-styrene(SBS) block copolymer and EPDM-polypropylene blend.

FIG. 2 is a cross-section view of the assembled underwater seal showing how the elements are combined to create the seal, in which the bladder/balloon 13 is passed through the electromagnet 11 and through rubber gasket 12; however, depending upon the strength of the bladder relative to the pressure of the escaping oil, the bladder may effect a seal to contain the leak at a position coextensive with the outer wall of the caisson 14 or inside the wall of the caisson as shown in FIG. 4

FIG. 3 is a cross-section view of the underwater seal lowered by a ship 15 employing art well known lowering techniques to a damaged caisson wall 17, in a sea bed or ground below a mass of water.

FIG. 4 is a cross section view of the underwater seal attached to the damaged caisson 14 through the magnetic material/electromagnet, wherein the bladder/balloon is extended under the influence of a gas or liquid under pressure.

The system for forcing pressurized gas or a liquid into pressuring tube 16 is art well known, and entails utilizing a transport tube for receiving or emitting a fluid medium through the tube; a pump coupled to receive the fluid medium and transfer it under pressure into the transport tube; control circuitry, to control the source and amount of power, if needed, to create a permanent or electromagnet 11 to adhere to the caisson wall over the ruptured opening.

The magnetic material/electromagnet means is one which can be permanently magnetized (a permanent magnet), and can be made of neodymium-iron-boron or a soft iron material that is easily magnetized in the vicinity of permanent magnets, and evidences no eittle or no remnant field when removed from the magnetizing field. Soft iron materials are strongly attracted to permanent magnets. Therefore, as used herein the term magnetized encompasses a magnetic material that has been subjected to a high magnetic field to create a permanent magnet.

As can be seen from the enlarged view in perspective of FIG. 5 the bladder/balloon may be enlarged under pressure within the damaged caisson inner wall as much as is needed the stem the flow or contain the spill of petroleum. The caisson wall includes a metallic element that is capable of adhering to the magnetic material/electromagnet element, and may include concrete reinforced with the metallic element or a caisson made entirely of the metric element. The metallic element can be various types of steel such a boron steel, carbon steel, chromium steel, chromium-molybdenum steel, chromium-molybdenum-vanadium steel, chromium-vanadium steel, customized steel, manganese steel, molybdenum steel, nickel-chromium steel, nickel-chromium-molybdenum steel, nickel-molybdenum steel, nitriding steel, and silicon-manganese steel.

While the innovation has been discussed in specific embodiments, it is understood that it is not limited to the specific description. 

I claim:
 1. A portion of an underwater structure altered to stop the flow of crude oil there-through, said altered structure including a rupture through which crude oil is escaping, said altered structure comprising: an outer wall means of a damaged caisson defining a rupture or opening; and a rubber seal or gasket means adhered to a magnetic material/electromagnet, with an opening through which a bladder/ balloon means is passed under the influence of pressurized gas or a pressurized liquid.
 2. The underwater structure of claim 1, wherein said magnetic material/electromagnet means is ferromagnetic.
 3. The underwater structure of claim 1, wherein said magnetic material/electromagnet means is neodymium-iron-boron.
 4. The underwater structure of claim 1, wherein said magnetic material/electromagnet means is positioned across said opening to stem flow of crude oil.
 5. The underwater structure of claim 1, wherein said magnetic material/electromagnet means is positioned across and extends into said opening.
 6. A method of stopping a flow of crude oil through an underwater altered structure including a rupture through which crude oil is escaping, comprising; attaching a rubber seal or gasket means adhered to a magnetic material/electromagnet means with an opening through which a bladder/balloon means is passed under the influence of pressurized gas or a pressurized liquid over an outer wall means of a damaged caisson defining a rupture or opening; adhering said magnetic material/electromagnet means to an outer wall opening means of said damaged caisson; and passing a pressurized gas or liquid to inflate said bladder/ balloon.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein said magnetic material/electromagnet means is ferromagnetic.
 8. The method of claim 6, wherein said magnetic material/electromagnet is means neodymium-iron-boron.
 9. The method of claim 6, wherein said magnetic/material electromagnet means is positioned across and extends into said opening.
 10. The altered underwater structure of claim 1 where said caisson wall comprises a metallic element capable of adhering to said magnetic material/electromagnet.
 11. The underwater structure of claim 2, wherein said magnetic material/electromagnet is neodymium-iron-boron.
 12. The underwater structure of claim 1 wherein said rubber seal or gasket means is selected from polydimethyl siloxane (silicone) sealant, polychloroprene and HDPE thermoplastic.
 13. The underwater structure of claim 1, wherein said bladder/balloon means is selected from polyisoprene styrenebutaiene copolymer (styrenebutadiene rubber), polybutadiene (butadiene rubber), acrylonitrile butadiene copolymer (nitrile rubber), isobutyleneisoprene (butyl rubber), ethylenepropylene monomer (EPM), ethylenepropylene-diene monomer (EPDM), polychloroprene (neoprene), polysulfide (Thiokol), polydimethyl siloxane (silicone), fluoroelastomer, polyacrylate elastomer, polyethylene (chlorinated, chlorosulfonated), styrene-isoprenestyrene (SIS), styrene-butadiene-styrene(SBS) block copolymer and EPDM-polypropylene blend.
 14. The method of claim 6, wherein said rubber seal or gasket means is selected from polydimethyl siloxane (silicone) sealant, polychloroprene and HDPE thermoplastic.
 15. The method of claim 6, wherein said bladder/balloon means is selected from polyisoprene styrenebutaiene copolymer (styrenebutadiene rubber), polybutadiene (butadiene rubber), acrylonitrile butadiene copolymer (nitrile rubber), isobutyleneisoprene (butyl rubber), ethylenepropylene monomer (EPM), ethylenepropylene-diene monomer (EPDM), polychloroprene (neoprene), polysulfide (Thiokol), polydimethyl siloxane (silicone), fluoroelastomer, polyacrylate elastomer, polyethylene (chlorinated, chlorosulfonated), styrene-isoprenestyrene (SIS), styrene-butadiene-styrene(SBS) block copolymer and EPDM-polypropylene blend. 